The invention relates to a ready to drink functional health milk beverage and process for commercial production of the same. More particularly, it relates to a ready to drink functional health milk beverage which is infused with Curcumin, having excellent product stability, long shelf life and a good taste resulting in neither aggregation nor precipitation of Curcumin, and a process for commercial production of the same.
The plant Curcuma longa L. commonly known as turmeric is a spice of the botanical family Zingiberaceae originated in India. Turmeric has many medicinal uses identified in Ayurveda, Unani and traditional Chinese medicine systems for hundreds of years. The rhizome of the plant Turmeric is derived. Turmeric has a bitter taste and is yellowish in colour. The active molecule called Curcumin or diferuloylmethane is a yellow pigment present in turmeric. Additionally, the powdered extracts of turmeric-dried roots may contain volatile and non-volatile oils, proteins, fat, minerals, carbohydrates and moisture.
According to the review article by Aggarwal B B, Sundaram C, Malani N, Ichikawa H. Curcumin: The Indian solid gold. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2007; 595: 1-75, “Curcumin has been shown to exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer activities and thus has a potential against various malignant diseases, diabetes, allergies, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, and other chronic illnesses. These effects are mediated through the regulation of various transcription factors, growth factors, inflammatory cytokines, protein kinases, and other enzymes”.
Curcumin binds to a variety of proteins and inhibits the activity of various kinases. According to a review article by Aggarwal B B, Sung B. Pharmacological basis for the role of curcumin in chronic diseases: an age-old spice with modern targets. Trends. Pharmacol Sci. 2009 February; 30(2):85-94, “Extensive research within the past two decades has shown that Curcumin mediates its anti-inflammatory effects through the down regulation of inflammatory transcription factors (such as nuclear factor kappaB), enzymes (such as cyclooxygenase 2 and 5 lipoxygenase) and cytokines (such as tumor necrosis factor, interleukin 1 and interleukin 6).”
In human clinical trials, Curcumin has been found to be safe and efficacious, and as per Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) notification 460, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Curcumin as a “generally regarded as safe” compound.
A review article on clinical human trials of Curcumin, Gupta S C, Patchva S, Aggarwal B B. Therapeuticroles of curcumin: lessons learned from clinical trials. AAPS J. 2013 January; 15(1):195-218, summarizes that “some promising effects have been observed in patients with various pro-inflammatory diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, uveitis, ulcerative proctitis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel disease, tropical pancreatitis, peptic ulcer, gastric ulcer, idiopathic orbital inflammatory pseudo tumor, oral lichen planus, gastric inflammation, vitiligo, psoriasis, acute coronary syndrome, atherosclerosis, diabetes, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic microangiopathy, lupus nephritis, renal conditions, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, β-thalassemia, biliary dyskinesia, Dejerine-Sottas disease, cholecystitis, and chronic bacterial prostatitis.”
According to a study published in a paper by Disilvestro R A, Joseph E, Zhao S, Joshua B. Diverse effects of a low dose supplement of lapidated curcumin in healthy middle aged people. Nutr J. 2012; 11 (1):79, the participants were given either lapidated curcumin (80 mg/day) or placebo for 4 weeks. Curcumin, but not placebo, produced decrease in salivary amylase and in the plasma levels of triglycerides, beta amyloid, alanine amino transferase, and sICAM.
The turmeric paste and powder contains Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) at a very low percentage, 3% to 4% according to “Chattopadhyay, Ishita; Biswas, Kaushik; Bandyopadhyay, Uday; Banerjee, Ranajit K (2004) Turmeric and curcumin: biological actions and medicinal applications Current science, 87 (1). pp. 44-53. ISSN 0011-3891.”
A review article on clinical human trials of Curcumin, Gupta S C, Patchva S, Aggarwal B B. Therapeuticroles of curcumin: lessons learned from clinical trials. AAPS J. 2013 January; 15(1):195-218, summarizes all the ongoing clinical trials on Curcumin. It can be observed that concentration of Curcumin consumed can be found to be at a range of 0.2 to 8 gm per day.
It is marketed in several forms, including capsules, tablets, ointments, energy drinks, soaps, and cosmetics. Use of turmeric infused milk in India is well known but the milk gives a bitter taste and cannot be stored for longer time as it results in sedimentation and coagulation of milk proteins.
Use of purified Curcumin in food products is not as easy as that of turmeric. Curcumin is not water soluble and is generally extracted from turmeric by organic solvents based extraction followed by crystallization. Curcumin is stable at high temperatures and in acids, but unstable in alkaline conditions and in the presence of light. The photo-stability of Curcumin under light when in a dissolved state is very low. When a transparent container is filled up with the beverage in which Curcumin is dissolved, Curcumin content gets deteriorated with the lapse of time by the irradiation light.
Japanese patent JP5094466B provides a solution to Curcumin in a composition which is hard to dissolve in water and causes precipitation of Curcumin containing particles when preserved for a long period of time. This composition is prepared by crushing Curcumin containing particles to 210-420 nm in the presence of an emulsifier and an aqueous solvent. This makes it more water dispersible, retaining high stability to light, causing no precipitation when stored for long period of time and having no bad influence on palate feeling and flavor of food and drink added therewith. This patent provides a method of mixing Curcumin crystals (95% of purity) with decaglycerine stearic acid ester, decaglycerinpulmitic acid ester, enzymatically decomposed lecithin, heating and dissolving in 85 degrees C., then cooled to 30 degrees Celsius, and further adding 25 kg of glycerine, 0.1 kg of potassium carbonate, and 0.05 kg of sodium chloride. Finally, pulverizing the mixture in a bead mill and bringing the particle size to 210-420 nm. It also describes use of Curcumin composition so obtained to be used in food and drinks including cow milk but at a very low concentration thus may have limited bioavailability to be effective as a functional beverage. Again, this process involves complex process of using Curcumin with a particle size of 210-420 nm which may not be commercially viable. Furthermore, the chemicals used in this process, decaglycerin stearic acid ester, decaglycerinpulmitic acid, glycerin, potassium carbonate, sodium chloride may not be appropriate for a functional health beverage.
Additionally, JP2009028042A provides Curcumin containing turmeric drink which is excellent to disperse in water, has precipitation stability and also provides a process for making the same. This invention uses turmeric as raw material and provides a process for preparation of a “curcmaerhizome” and this curcmaerhizome is used as the basic component of a curcmaerhizoma beverage. The invention sets the Curcumin of quantity to 30 to 60 mg on the basis of 100 ml of beverages and is stabilized by stirring 0.01 to 0.05% by weight of gellant gum at 2000 to 5000 rpm for 5 to 15 minutes to 80 to 95 degrees C. hot water. This is a water based beverage and it does not teach the use milk.
[Additionally, WO2004081023A1 provides a method of preparation of a water-soluble Curcumin by covalent bonding sugar to the Curcumin, thereby making the Curcumin, which was insoluble to water, into a water-soluble Curcumin. This water soluble Curcumin may be applied to more fields such as food, soluble drugs and dyes.
Accordingly, there is a long felt need for a milk based Curcumin beverage that can be prepared in an efficient and simple manner without compromising the efficacy of Curcumin. Additionally, there is a need for a stable Curcumin milk beverage with good dispersibility, low precipitation, high photo-stability, long shelf life, and good taste as well, and suitable for industrial production.